A Sydney GP who was struck by a chair lift while skiing at Perisher is set to be awarded a substantial damages payout after a judge found the ski operator was negligent and had breached its duty of care.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Dr Ghita Nair-Smith suffered serious injuries to her groin and lower back after the handrail of a chair lift struck her from behind as she waited to travel to the top of a ski run.
As the 53-year-old doctor waited with friends for the chair to pick her up on the afternoon of July 18, 2003, she noticed the safety bar had not been raised and was threatening to knock them over.
"Almost as soon as we reached the correct loading position, I heard Alison yell out 'the bar's down!"' Dr Nair-Smith told the Supreme Court.
"When the chair was about one metre away from me, the lift attendant nearest to me lunged forward, grabbed the back corner of the chair with his left hand, pulled the chair back towards him, and at an angle flipped the safety bar back up with his right hand and let go."
Dr Nair-Smith said the last-minute move by the attendant caused the chair to move out of alignment and its side handrail to strike her in the groin, causing "immediate and intense pain". She remained straddled on the armrest but was eventually pulled into her seat by one of her friends.
The hearing heard that collision damaged the ligaments around Dr Nair-Smith's groin and lower back, causing her significant ongoing pain and, as a consequence of that, a psychiatric pain disorder.
The court heard this had significantly restricted the doctor's functioning, including her ability to work full time, participate in recreational activities, travel, and have sex.
The doctor has sought hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages for economic and other loss.
Perisher argued that its lift operator had been paying attention, and had raised the safety bar in time for Dr Nair-Smith to board safely, but that she was not standing in the correct place.
The ski organisation also argued that it was not liable because of the fine print on the back of its lift tickets state: "We are not liable to you for any loss, damage, injury of any incidental ... loss ...to a person or property whether arising from default, negligence, misconduct or otherwise by us."
In a judgment handed down on Friday, Justice Beech Jones found that while it was likely the doctor was not standing in the right place, she had probably moved because the safety bar was left up until the last second.
"While collision and injury were not inevitable, they were a reasonable strong possibility if no precautions were taken," Justice Beech-Jones said.
"The actions of the lift operator were negligent and causative of the accident."
The judge found that Perisher had breached its duty of care to Dr Nair-Smith.
He set the matter down for another hearing to determine the size of the damages to be awarded.
